


Meet Cute in Minneapolis

by Joyfulnerd



Category: Veronica Mars - All Media Types
Genre: AU, F/M, meet cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-19
Updated: 2015-01-19
Packaged: 2018-03-08 05:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3196538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joyfulnerd/pseuds/Joyfulnerd
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little AU ficlet. Veronica's new neighbor has been cooking and the smell is quite enticing. </p><p>A riff on one the VM Fic Recs December Fic Prompts...just slightly delayed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meet Cute in Minneapolis

Veronica Mars found she had a bit of a skip in her step today. It was finally, finally warming up. She'd been warned excessively about the Midwest winters before she moved to Minneapolis and she found that those warnings, if anything, had been understated. The new friends she'd made here in Minnesota had assured her that this had been an exceptionally frigid winter, that normally it wasn't quite this bad. There was talk of "polar vortexes." Veronica had no clue if what they said was true or if they were just telling her reassuring lies. What she did know was that in the last week or so the temperature had started to climb and the drifts of snow had begun to melt. Spring, as they say, had sprung and it appeared that Veronica had managed to survive her first "real" winter. 

Veronica could hardly believe she'd been here almost a year. She'd never imagined leaving California, but then last May her best friend, Wallace Fennel, had been offered a position with the Athletics Department at the University of Minnesota. After accepting the offer, Wallace had asked her if she wanted a change of pace and invited her to join him in Minnesota. She knew the offer was Wallace's way of taking care of her after her rather spectacular breakup with her boyfriend of almost four years. After thinking it over, Veronica found she was most definitely ready for a change and agreed to Wallace's invitation. 

Coming to Minneapolis had turned out to be a great move. She and Wallace had spent the summer exploring the parks and lakes that dotted the area. She'd found a renewed love of soccer when Wallace had invited her to join a team he was on with his coworkers. They'd even managed to squeeze in a couple weekend trips up the North Shore, visiting Duluth and Two Harbors and heading up into Canada. The shoreline of Lake Superior had been starkly different from the sandy beaches of Neptune, but Veronica had thoroughly enjoyed herself nonetheless. 

When she and Wallace weren't having fun exploring and enjoying their new home, Veronica had started setting up her own photography business. It hadn't been easy, but her work was becoming more steady in the last couple months. She didn't always love doing the commercial type photoshoots like she'd had today, but they were necessary for her to make a living. Today's job, a shoot for a local clothing boutique, had gone smoothly and the money she'd earned would make it possible for her to spend the next bit of time doing the more artistic photography that she truly loved. 

It had been a long day but a good one and now Veronica was headed home. She smiles as she drives around the corner and spots her house. From the outside, it was a bit of bland brick box, but the apartments inside of the 1918 house-turned-four-plex were gorgeous with dark wood details, high ceilings, and leaded glass windows. The house was in the Northeast area of Minneapolis, close to lots of great restaurants and a bustling arts scene. It was a great place to live. 

After parking her car across the street from the house, Veronica gathers up her bulky camera bag from the passenger seat, locks the car, and heads to the back of the house where steep wooden steps lead to the deck that two upper apartments share. 

She's just passing the apartment next door when she's stopped in her tracks. She takes a deep sniff and nearly moans. Italian sausage, garlic, tomato. Veronica can smell it drifting through the open window of apartment. Her eyes slide shut as she takes in other whiff of the decadent smell. 

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Logan Echolls had never been to Minneapolis before moving to the city. It wouldn't have been his first choice for a new home, but the choice hadn't really been his in the first place. When Chef Marcus Deveraux commanded something, his staff had little choice but to obey. Logan knew he was lucky to have found a position with Chef Devereaux directly out of culinary school. To be asked to head up the chef's new Minneapolis restaurant a mere three years later? It was nearly unheard of. Logan had been honored when Chef Devereaux had asked him to take on this job. He'd worked hard to prove himself in the kitchen and was pleased that his efforts were paying off. 

Logan had moved into his apartment just yesterday. His initial inclination had been to rent one of the modern high-rise type apartments in the city. However, when the real estate agent he was working with emailed him photos of this place, he'd been instantly drawn to the small apartment. It was worlds away from the contemporary place he'd had in New York, but the dark wood baseboards, the wooden colonnades flanking the entrance to the living area, the high ceilings - they all combined to make an apartment that exuded a cozy feeling of home that was clear even in the grainy pictures he'd been sent. The recently remodeled kitchen with butcher block counters and new high-end appliances hadn't exactly hurt either. 

The work at the restaurant would start tomorrow, but tonight Logan was going to relax. He'd found a Whole Foods nearby and gone shopping. After one more stop at Surdyk's, a liquor and cheese store in the neighborhood, Logan was back home and his plan for the evening was to enjoy the lasagne he'd made along with a glass of the red wine he'd found at Surdyk's. 

The lasagna baking in the oven and prep dishes cleaned up, Logan glances around the kitchen. _Damn it._ He must have left the wine in the car. Grabbing his keys off the counter, Logan heads out the back door. As he steps outside, he's stopped by an unexpected but definitely not unattractive site. A beautiful blonde woman stands outside his door. Her eyes are closed and she has a slight smile on her face. She seems to be oblivious to him and Logan takes the opportunity to run his eyes down her slim form. She's petite with some very enticing curves. She's dressed in dark blue, well-fitting jeans, a dark striped shirt, and a stylish leather jacket. Logan returns his gaze to the woman's face just in time to see her take a deep sniff. Logan grins as he realizes that she's standing here smelling his lasagna. He leans against the doorframe and addresses the vision in front of him.

"Hungry?" Logan asks and the woman's blue eyes pop open.

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Veronica jumps just a bit in surprise at the unexpected voice. When she opens her eyes, she finds herself staring at a man's very fit, t-shirt-clad chest. Whoever this fine chest belongs to is tall. Tall enough that, despite the fact that he's leaning against the doorframe, her head just reaches the level of his shoulders. Veronica takes a step back and looks up at the man's face. _Whoa._ The man in front of her is handsome...really handsome. He has a narrow face with light stubble along his jaw and gorgeous cheekbones. His eyes are a deliciously deep brown. Involuntarily, Veronica's eyes take a swift course down the man's body, drinking in broad shoulders, a slim waist, and long legs. It can't have taken more than a second or two to take him all in, but when she returns her gaze to his face, she sees the man's eyebrows rise and Veronica realizes she's been caught checking out this total stranger. _Whoops._

"Sorry, what did you say?" 

A smile slowly spreads across the man's face. It would be charming if it weren't so damn cocky. _Okay_ , Veronica thinks to herself, _it's still pretty attractive but that's neither here nor there._ Veronica frowns. This guy, whoever he is, has caught her off guard and she's not used to that. She's usually much better at keeping her cards close to her vest. 

"I asked if you were hungry," Mr. Cocky Smile says. "I'm assuming you are. Unless, of course, you have a habit of sniffing around stranger's porches."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about." Veronica says casually, hoping to project an air of indifference that she's not really feeling. 

"Oh please." The man rolls his eyes. "Don't play dumb. You were totally out here sniffing my lasagna."

"Lasagna?" Veronica nearly whimpers when she repeats the handsome stranger and the grin on the man's face grows wider.


End file.
